Phil Flynn, senior market analyst for PFG Best in Chicago, said the prices are being driven higher by encouraging U.S. economic readings in recent days. These include the 0.7% rise in industrial production reported Wednesday by the Federal Reserve that was nearly twice as much as economists expected, or the stronger-than-forecast rise in the October retail sales reading reported by the Commerce Department on Tuesday.

And he said consumers might get a break and not suffer from much of an increase in retail gasoline prices. That's because gas prices rose during the late summer and early fall, even as oil futures were declining.

The Consumer Price Index released Wednesday showed gasoline prices falling 3.1% in October even as oil futures climbed.